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Thursday, September 29, 2011

“Shaming tactics.” This phrase is familiar to many Men’s Rights Activists. It conjures up the histrionic behavior of female detractors who refuse to argue their points with logic. Yet women are not the only ones guilty of using shaming tactics against men. Male gynocentrists use them, too.

Shaming tactics are emotional devices meant to play on a man’s insecurities and shut down debate. They are meant to elicit sympathy for women and to demonize men who ask hard questions. Most, if not all, shaming tactics are basically ad homimem attacks.

Anyway, it might be helpful to categorize the major shaming tactics that are used against men whenever a discussion arises about feminism, men’s issues, romance, etc. The following list contains descriptions of shaming tactics, some examples of quotes employing the tactics, and even color-coded aliases for mnemonic purposes. Enjoy.

The New York Times reports that the FBI is planning to revise its official definition of rape after more than 80 years of using an antiquated definition that drastically underestimates the number of sexual assaults every year. Currently, the FBI defines rape as “the carnal knowledge of a female, forcibly and against her will” — which completely excludes male rape and discounts cases that involve anal or oral penetration, penetration with an object, and cases where the victims were drugged or under the influence. Thousands of these rapes are not counted in official statistics every year. Susan B. Carbon, director of the Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women, notes that the current data gives a distorted portrayal and sends the damaging message to victims that “if you don’t fit that very narrow definition, you weren’t a victim and your rape didn’t count.” Greg Scarbro, the FBI’s unit chief for the Uniformed Crime Report, says the agency agrees the definition should be changed and an FBI subcommittee will take up the issue at a meeting on Oct. 18.

The religious right has a heavy-hand in conservative politics, particularly in an election year. Christian presidential candidates like Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX), Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) all tout theirChristiancredentials and signed thepro-lifepledges to court the evangelical vote. But there is one traditional position that even young Christians are abandoning: the purity pledge. According to a recent study, 80 percent of unmarried evangelical young adults have had sex, only 8 percent less than the general unmarried adult population:

Just when you thought the nationwide crackdown on undocumented immigrants couldn’t get any more brutal, the Huffington Post reports that pregnant women in Arizona and Tennessee were detained and forced to give birth while shackled to their hospital beds because they couldn’t produce identification.

The shackling of female inmates when they go into labor has been a roundly condemned practice in prisons, but local authorities are now extending that humiliation to non-violent immigrant women whose only crime was being stopped by police without a valid license:

Like Warren Buffett, hip hop mogul Russell Simmons, whose net worth is estimated at $340 million, is calling on President Obama to raise his taxes. “For far too long in this country we have allowed the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer,” Simmons wrote, calling on policymakers to preserve social safety net programs for the most needy. Simmons, who has also joined with the Occupy Wall Street protests, appeared on MSNBC today to discuss his cause. “All my employees — every single one — paid more taxes than I did,” he said, noting that he donated $10 million to charity and thus received big tax breaks. “We need to make the rich pay their fair share.” Watch it:

Opponents of regulatory oversight of natural gas hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, like to claim that there’s never been a case of fracking contaminating groundwater. However, the Wall Street Journal reports that drillers using the fracking process are ruining people’s wells. “In May, Pennsylvania regulators fined Chesapeake Energy Corp. $900,000 for contaminating the water supplies of 16 homes in Bradford County, Pa., with methane, including the water well at the Vargson home.”

Last June, Saudi Arabian women launched a campaign to push for their right to drive, gettingbehind the wheels of their cars to protest the Kingdom’s ban on women driving. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised their efforts, saying, “I’m moved by it and I support them.” The AP reports today however that a court sentenced a Saudi woman to be lashed 10 times with a whip for defying the ban, noting that it’s “the first time a legal punishment has been handed down for a violation of the longtime ban in the ultraconservative Muslim nation.” The AP adds that Saudi authorities usually stop women drivers and let them go if they pledge not to drive again, but “dozens of women have continued to take to the roads since June in a campaign to break the taboo.” The sentence comes just days after King Abdullah announced that women will have the right to vote and run in forthcoming local elections there.

Today, the Michigan Messenger reports about how the private prisons behemoth Corrections Corporations of America grew over the last decade, expanding both its prisoner population and its political clout. The Messenger cites data from the U.S. Department of Justice showing that the private prison population grew from 87,369 to 129,336 from 2000 to 2009:

President Obama is currently fielding questions from a town hall audience in Mountain View, California, hosted by LinkedIn. At one point, a man stood and asked Obama, “Would you please raise my taxes?” He continued: “I would like very much to have the country to continue to invest in things like Pell Grants, infrastructure, and job training programs that made it possible for me to get to where I am.” In his response, Obama dismissed “class warfare” rhetoric and emphasized that everyone benefits from government investments that companies would not have made on their own. Watch it:

Scientists say they have found a way to disarm the AIDS virus in research that could lead to a vaccine. Researchers have discovered that if they eliminate a cholesterol membrane surrounding the virus, HIV cannot disrupt communication among disease-fighting cells and the immune system returns to normal.

It sounds like Fox News Sunday has changed their music, so that it's no longer these caterwauling electric guitars first thing in the morning. We'll still have caterwauling Lindsey Graham, though! Also David Plouffe and paneling, paneling, paneling!

You should expect more than ghosts, spirits and candy when Halloween arrives this year. On October 31, 2011, the world will welcome its seven billionth person, according to the United Nations Population Fund.

Tensions are rising at the Occupy Wall Street protest, currently in its eighth day, as organizers for the protest claim that 80 have been arrested.Eyewitness accounts report that "dozens" have been arrested. Police would not confirm the exact number. Videos and eyewitness accounts show violent clashing between protesters and the police.

WNYC reports that "of the dozens arrested, most were for disorderly conduct, obstructing vehicular and pedestrian traffic, resisting arrest and, in one case, assaulting a police officer, the police said."

The skirmish escalated in Union Square Saturday afternoon, as Twitter users report a huge influx of police officers. This video, below, appears to show female protesters being penned and maced by police officers:

And others:

Violent clashes at Union Square:

As of late Saturday afternoon, the protest moved downtown to Liberty Park. See the live feed of the protest here:

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi King Abdullah has given the kingdom's women the right to vote for first time in nationwide local elections, due in 2015. The king said in an annual speech on Sunday before his advisory assembly, or Shura Council, that Saudi women will be able to run and cast ballots in the 2015 municipal elections.

Abdullah says women will also be appointed to "join the all-male" Shura Council, which is selected by Abdullah.

Saudi Arabia held its first-ever municipal elections in 2005.

The kingdom will hold its next municipal elections on Thursday, but women are not able to vote or run at this time.

WASHINGTON — In a fiery summons to an important voting bloc, President Barack Obama told blacks on Saturday to quit crying and complaining and "put on your marching shoes" to follow him into battle for jobs and opportunity.

At an event the Congressional Black Caucus put togetherto honor the Tuskegee Airmen and to promote George Lucas’s new movie about them, Red Tails, the movie’s stars, Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding, Jr., had some pointed things to say about the way Hollywood approaches black actors and directors. Howard said that Lucas had put together the movie with his own money, and that it would be a critical litmus test for a system that systematically devalues black actors and black stories:

Friday, September 23, 2011

On Wednesday night, House Republicans failed to passa continuing resolution to keep the government funded beyond Sept. 30, as 48 Republicans cut ranks with their leadership and voted against the measure (as did all but six Democrats, who object to the bill’s level of disaster aid and cuts to a clean vehicle manufacturing program). House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) was reportedly incensed at the members who abandoned him on the vote, deriding them as “know-it-alls who have all the right answers.”

Last night’s Republican debate in Florida was filled with candidates’ tirades about the federal government’s role in education. No Child Left Behind, the sweeping and unpopular education law signed by President George W. Bush, was singled out for criticism, with Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) and Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) saying they’d do away with it altogether.

GENEVA — One of the very pillars of physics and Einstein's theory of relativity – that nothing can go faster than the speed of light – was rocked Thursday by new findings from one of the world's foremost laboratories.

European researchers said they clocked an oddball type of subatomic particle called a neutrino going faster than the 186,282 miles per second that has long been considered the cosmic speed limit.

A shortage of jobs and falling incomes have left an overwhelming share of Americans convinced that the Great Recession is not over, according to a Gallup Poll released Wednesday.

Eight in 10 Americans believe that the nation's economy is not growing and that the recession is an ongoing problem, the poll found. Nearly 75 percent of those polled also described the nation's economy as virtually unchanged since last year.

In a statement on Troy Davis’ execution last night, Georgia Democrat and former President Jimmy Carter said “this tragedy will spur us as a nation toward the total rejection of capital punishment.” He added, “If one of our fellow citizens can be executed with so much doubt surrounding his guilt, then the death penalty system in our country is unjust and outdated.” Media Matters’ Simon Maloy urges Fox to question the GOP candidates tonight about whether they can support a system with a margin of error.

Radical anti-abortion groups including the Christian Defense Fund have come up with another over-the-top spectacle to try to shame pregnant women and make anti-choice legislators feel self-righteous. This time they’ve chosen Capitol Hill as the venue for the stunt, called “Voices from the Womb,” where the public and all 535 representatives are invited to the Capitol Visitors Center Auditorium to witness the groups performing live ultrasounds on pregnant women.

Last year, Islamophobicactivists, allied with a number of right-wing politicians, attacked the construction of the Park 51 Islamic community center, maligning the project as a “Ground Zero Mosque” being built blocks away from the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City.

Media hound Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) has harsh praise for the company he seeks — particularly when it comes to coverage of President Obama. He is a firm believer in the idea that the media and liberals’ collective “white guilt” rocketed an “articulate” black man to the presidency. Now, Walsh is convinced the media will go to great lengths to protect their chosen black hero.

Former President Bill Clinton blasted the “non-fact-based political debate” surrounding the Republican primary race and Tea Party economic policies which advocate for limited government services and low taxation.

The GOP presidential field will trot out for yet another debate in Orlando, FL tonight. Between taking pot shots at each other, the candidates have predictably come out against President Obama’s economic plans to create jobs and reduce the deficit with infrastructure investments, more progressive tax rates, and the elimination of corporate tax loopholes. On cue, the candidates are bringing back talking points from the dead — falsely insisting that Obama’s plans will destroy small businesses and job growth.

A freshman San Juan Capistrano, California city councilman is under fire after mentioning in a public meeting that he named one of his dogs Muhammad, after the Muslim prophet, in order to “make a political statement.” Dogs are considered unclean to devout Muslims. In a blog post on Patch.com, which has since been deleted, councilman Derek Reeve added that his other dog is named “America,”writing:

After John Kasich won the Ohio gubernatorial election last fall, one of his first appointments was Gary Mohr to be the state Director of Rehabilitation and Corrections. Prior to his appointment, Mohr worked as managing director for the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), a company that not only pushes states to build moreprivate prisons, but also lobbies lawmakers to put more people in jail in order to fill the new supply of prison beds.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Since jumping in the race, GOP presidential front runner Gov. Rick Perry’s (TX) radical views on Social Security have garnered the most attention. And for good reason, as Perry lands far to the right of even his most right-wing opponents in calling the entitlement program a unconstitutional “Ponzi scheme.” A fan of secession, Perry even suggested letting individual states “secede” from Social Security altogether.

Presidential contender Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has been on the defensive ever since suggesting last week that the HPV vaccine, which prevents cervical cancer, may cause mental retardation. Her completely bogus charge was immediately debunked by public health experts, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Thinking about e-mailing your friends and neighbors about the protests against Wall Street happening right now? If you have a Yahoo e-mail account, think again. ThinkProgress has reviewed claims that Yahoo is censoring e-mails relating to the protest and found that after several attempts on multiple accounts, we too were prevented from sending messages about the “Occupy Wall Street” demonstrations.

Yesterday, President Obama put forward a new plan to reduce the federal deficit by $3.2 trillion over the next decade. One highlight of the plan — along with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts for the top two tax brackets — is a new minimum tax for millionaires. This has been termed “the Buffett rule,” in honor of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who often highlights the injustice of our current tax code with the example that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.

Yesterday, President Obama offered a deficit reduction plan that aims to save $3 trillion over the next 10 years. Half of those funds will be revenue raised from a return to the Clinton administration’s tax rate on those in the top two income tax brackets, as well as the new “Buffett rule” — a minimum tax on those making over $1 million, named after billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who continually notes that he pays less in taxes than middle-class Americans. Heading off the GOP’s new talking point, Obama noted that this tax policy “is not class warfare. It’s math.”

As part of his deficit reduction plan, President Obama has proposed some tax increases on the wealthiest Americans, which would come via allowing the Bush tax cuts for the two highest tax brackets to expire and implementing the “Buffett rule,” which stipulates that millionaires and billionaires shouldn’t pay a lower tax rate than middle-class Americans.

Monday, September 19, 2011

This weekend, the Constitution celebrated its 224th birthday. Yet, despite the fact that our founding document has served America well for more than two centuries, the Tea Party now wants to cast its principles aside and replace them with a radical anti-government manifesto. Despite the fact that the Constitution has been amended many times to make America moredemocratic and moreresponsive to We the People, the Tea Party believes that we have an authoritarian constitution that prohibits everything they disdain and requires nearly everything that they support.

THE WAR ON WORKERS: The Tea Party’s vision of the Constitution wouldn’t just leave America’s seniors out in the cold, it would force American workers to compete with their adolescent children for sub-minimum wage jobs. Lee believes that we should return to a misguided era when federal child labor laws were considered unconstitutional because the Constitution “was designed to be a little bit harsh.” Perry believes all “national labor laws” including child labor laws, the minimum wage, overtime laws, and laws protecting workers’ right to organize, are unconstitutional. And Justice Clarence Thomas embraces a vision of the Constitution that would eliminate all these laws and take out workplace discrimination laws in the process.

JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG: Sadly, this wholesale assault on workers and the elderly is merely one small part of the Tea Party’s vision of the Constitution. It’s difficult to count how many laws would simply cease to exist if the Tea Party wins its fight to re-imagine our founding document, but a recent Center for American Progress white paper lists not just Social Security, Medicare, and basic workplace protections, but also all federal health care, education and antipoverty programs, federal disaster relief and food safety programs, and most national civil rights laws. In other words, the Tea Party’s agenda is nothing short of a wholesale repeal of the 20th Century, and a return to the era when families mortgaged their home to pay for their mother’s end-of-life care, higher education was a luxury reserved almost exclusively to the very rich, and rotten meat shipped to supermarkets nationwide without a national agency to inspect it.

American corporations are holding more cash on their balance sheets than at any time in nearly a half century, as they continue to save instead of investing or hiring workers, according to a Federal Reserve report released Friday. At the same time, Republican presidential candidates and corporate leaders continue to lobby for lower corporate tax rates and huge corporate tax giveaways under the guise that they will lead to higher rates of job creation.

One Florida company has found a novel way of enticing new customers to open accounts that takes advantage of America’s lax gun laws: offering people free AK-47 assault rifles! The Broward Palm Beach New Times reports that MerchantService.com, a Sarasota-based company that provides the equipment and processing for businesses’ credit card transactions, announced its “Free AK-47 Giveaway” last Thursday. Based on the size of their order, customers can redeem a voucher for an AK-47 worth up to $750. Their website features a “God, Guns & Guts” banner as part of its “No Victims” campaign that promotes carrying assault rifles to protect against robberies and other crimes. “One of the most important steps toward ensuring you and your businesses well being is deciding to not be a victim,” the website explains.

During the 2010 debate over the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, Republicans continually claimed that allowing tax rates for the richest two percent of Americans to go back to where they were under the Clinton administration would disproportionately affect small businesses. The claim wasn’t true then — as just 3 percent of people with any business income at all, from a business large or small, would be affected if the top two tax rates increase — but that didn’t stop the GOP from parroting it over and over.

After a politician in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, said women should dress more modestly to avoid rape, women dressed in miniskirts took to the streets and protested for more protection for women and better aid for sexual assault victims. The women carried signs that said: “Don’t tell us how to dress, tell them not to rape,” and “My body is not porn, instead it’s your dirty mind.” Indonesia’s National Commission for Women’s Affairs said there have been more than 100,000 cases this year in Indonesia of violence directed at women.

The Department of Justice weighed intoday on the controversial Texas redistricting map that Gov. Rick Perry signed in May and civil rights groups argue intentionally weakens the Latino vote to benefit Republicans. The DOJ signaled their concern that the map discriminates against minorities and therefore violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The DOJ would usually have to “pre-clear” such changes to make sure they don’t unfairly affect minority voters, but Texas chose to skip that process, putting the fate of the new congressional map in the hands of a three-judge panel. In their court filing, the DOJ “den[ies] that the proposed Congressional plan complies with Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act” because it does not “maintain or increase the ability of minority voters to elect their candidate of choice in each district” compared to the benchmark. However, the DOJ also sides with the state of Texas on several charges and agrees that some parts of the new plan do not violate the VRA.

In an interview yesterday with Fox News’ Chris Wallace, House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) had almost nothing but criticism for President Obama’s jobs plan. “This looks like to me not a very good sign, because it looks like the president wants to move down the class warfare path,” he commented. Ryan did, however, express his support for a program that asks the unemployed to work for no wages while receiving unemployment benefits.

Rather than take a moment to condemn GOP debate audiences that cheered for executions and to leave a man to die, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he didn’t have “any particular reaction.” When host David Gregory asked McConnell on Meet The Press if the cheers troubled him as a Republican, McConnell deferred, saying there would be lots of debates and audience reactions during the campaign. Watch it:

A new CNN poll finds that an overwhelming majority of Americans still believe in a woman’s right to choose, with 78 percent of respondents saying that they want abortion to remain legal under any circumstances or under certain circumstances. Just 21 percent said they would support outlawing abortion under all circumstances. The numbers are almost unchanged from a year ago — despite the concerted efforts of conservatives to severely restrict access to abortion on the state level. Seventy-seven percent of Americans identified themselves as pro-choice in in 2009 and support has remained consistent over the last five years.

Tea Party Rep. Steve King (R-IA) took to the House floor yesterday to give a diatribe against large swaths of of the social safety net, from food stamps to heating fuel subsidies, but reserved particular disdain for unemployment insurance, which he dismissed as “welfare for people that won’t work.” ViaPolitical Correction:

In a sudden move, House Republicans rejected President Obama’s week-old jobs plan, including about $240 billion in payroll tax cuts. In a memo to their caucus, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), and other leaders dismissed the bill’s largest spending and tax cutting portions, leaving little of the bill intact. In the memo, the leaders explained their concerns on the tax:

WASHINGTON -- While major parts of President Barack Obama's jobs plan are being met with hostility on Capitol Hill, at least one element was welcomed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Budget Committee, on Sunday. That's the president's plan to allow businesses to hire the long-term unemployed for a limited period of time for free.

Paul Ryan is here to soothe us with his haircut, and Herman Cain -- who seems to have peaked as a candidate -- gets to have a one-on-one interview with Chris Wallace. Plus did you know there's another debate this week?! It's obviously good for America that we have debate every week until we die.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Businessman Peter Konetchy, one of five Republicans running to face Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D) in 2012, told attendees at a forum today that he supported capping the number of Muslims allowed to immigrate to the United States, the Grand Rapids Press reported. “The Muslims are setting up their own little groups that don’t want to assimilate,” Konetchy said. “Right now, we’re at war with Islam.”

Census data revealed today that a record 46.2 million Americans were living in poverty in 2010. But in an aptly-timed hearing entitled “Is Poverty A Death Sentence,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) flat out rejected the idea that poverty in the U.S is worrisome. As the Ranking Member of the Senate Health subcommittee, Paul offered a dissertation-length statement on how the correlation between poverty and death is only found in the Third World and to claim such a connection within the U.S. is nothing more than “socialism” and “tyranny.”

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Bankruptcy has gotten more educated over the past five years, as financial distress spread to more of the population with college degrees, according to study results released Tuesday.

Monday, September 12, 2011

9:53: Asked what he’d bring to the White House, Cain said: “I would bring a sense of humor to the White House because America is too uptight.”

9:52: This would have been a good time for Newt to scold the media for asking stupid questions.

9:50: Wolf Blitzer asks the candidate a vapid question about what they would change in the White House. If Rick Santorum was president, he would expand the White House — not for government, but for his seven children who would need lots of bedrooms.

After suffering from a career-threatening foot injury and subsequent life-threatening blood clots, rant-prone tennis player Serena Williams waged a serious comeback in pursuit of her 14th grand slam title at the U.S Open this year. But Williams not only lost her finals match yesterday — she lost her temper. Down a set, Williams ripped a forehand in the first game of the second set that she thought was a winner and yelled, “Come on” before the ball reached her opponent Samantha Stosur. Umpire Eva Asderaki invoked the hindrance rule and awarded the point to Stosur, giving her the game.

The NRA is pushing a sweeping new bill to radically weaken the nation’s gun control regime. Already co-sponsored by 243 members of the House, the legislation would force any state to recognize a concealed weapons permit issued by any other state:

At least 600,000 government workers have lost their jobs since the recession began, but Republicans nevertheless keep scapegoating public employees who have shouldered more than their fair share of economic pain. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, became the latest lawmaker to join in this trend during an appearance today on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, where he said that government shouldn’t try to save teachers’ jobs because that would be like another stimulus package:

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Today, the nation gathers together in memorium of the countless Americans from all walks of life who lost and gave their lives on — and after — 9/11. In anticipation of this somber day, the New York GOP sent out “a kitchen-sink mailer in the hotly-contested Queens congressional special election depicting a mosque superimposed over the scarred Ground Zero site on one side, and Democrat David Weprin alongside President Barack Obama on the other.”

Bill Maher has never been one to keep his opinions to himself, and during an appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on Friday, he had one takeaway piece of advice for President Obama: "Stop trying to make everyone like you."

WASHINGTON -- Minnesota-based Cargill Inc. recalled more ground turkey products Sunday because a test showed salmonella in a sample from an Arkansas plant less than a month after production resumed following an earlier recall and shutdown.

Today is September 11th, the tenth anniversary of the horrific and inhumane Al Qaeda-led terrorist attacks that killed approximately 3,000 innocents. As Americans pause and reflect on how these attacks changed our country and the world, we should reflect upon one of deceased terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden’s primary goals: bankrupting America. In an audio tape from 2004, Bin Laden explained that Al Qaeda had adopted a “policy” of “bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy” through provoking it into engaging in perpetual warfare in the Middle East and South Asia.

Various media outlets reported last week that the Obama administration plans on keeping only 3,000 troops in Iraq past 2011. While top officials denied that a decision has been made, and the Iraqis have yet to agree to any U.S. troop presence in to 2012, the Iraq war cheerleaders came out swinging, calling the reported decision a “boon to the Iranians,” and a “political decision being managed out of the Chicago campaign headquarters.”

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Last night, President Obama announced the American Jobs Act, an ambitious $447 BILLION proposal to tackle our nation’s job crisis; modernize our crumbling roads, bridges, and schools; and help lay a foundation for a stronger, more competitive American economy. In addition, the president announced that housing regulators are moving toward a plan that could allow millions of homeowners to refinance their government-backed mortgages at today’s historically low interest rates.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Jeff Landry knew not to yell at President Barack Obama during his jobs address Thursday night to Congress. That move made Rep. Joe Wilson famous a couple of years ago, and not necessarily for the better. Instead, Republican leaders urged their members to show up, keep an open mind and be polite — voters were anxious and Congress’ bickering had angered large majorities of them.

Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy didn't think too highly of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. when they were both alive. In a new book titled "Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy," ​Jackie O. says that MLK found the part where the pall bearers almost dropped the casket to be mildly entertaining.

Many 9 11 conspiracy theories surfaced shortly after the September 11th attacks, some bringing compelling arguments, and some not holding up at all. Theorists believe that the World Trade Center buildings were demolished by bombs, phone calls from the planes were made up, and the former President George W. Bush secretly profited from the attacks.

Yesterday, President Obama requested $5.1 billion to provide disaster relief to communities struggling to recover from recent hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and wildfires. The request includes $500 million in emergency funds FEMA needs to continue to operate effectively through the end of September.

Charles Kurzman, a University of North Carolina professor of sociology, is the author of a new book titled The Missing Martyrs: Why There Are So Few Muslim Terrorists. Seeking to “turn down the volume on terrorism debates,” Kurzman argues Al Qaeda and its affiliates have “failed so dismally” because they have been unable to attract large numbers — particularly Muslim American recruits — to their cause.

As the NFL begins a new season this weekend, America will celebrate the sport not just as a wonderful national pastime, but also as a prime example of progressive policies in action. We’ve cataloged seven unique ways in which the NFL is strengthened by its progressive approach to the sport, including equality, fairness, and diversity:

Friday, September 9, 2011

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez (R) has long been known for her vitriolic rhetoric against undocumented immigrants. Just this week, sheslammed presidential contender Rick Perry (R-TX) for once supporting the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform. “It is not comprehensive reform to put people who are here illegally, who violated the law, and put them in front of the line for those folks who have been waiting and doing all the right things to come to the United States,” she said.

Last night, President Obama rolled out a $450 billion job creation package before a joint session of Congress, calling for a plan that includes a payroll tax reduction, money for infrastructure and school modernization, as well as help for homeowners and reforms of the unemployment insurance program. “This plan is the right thing to do right now. You should pass it,” Obama said.

President Bush sat down with USA Today to discuss the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and his role in shaping U.S. policy in their aftermath. During the interview, Bush thought he’d take the opportunity topat himself on the back for Osama bin Laden’s death:

Americans have been flooded with new jobs plans over the last week, with presidential candidatespresenting their ideas and President Obama providing an outline of his version in a prime-time address to Congress last night. But hours before Obama’s speech, Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks (R) took to the House floor to tell both Republicans and Democrats that they were overthinking the jobs issue. Brooks’ “surefire” plan to jumpstart the economy, he said, was to kick out all undocumented immigrants so Americans can have their jobs.

BROOKS: There is a surefire way to create jobs now for American citizens: evict all illegal aliens from America and open up millions of jobs for American citizens. That also forces blue-collar wages up, helping American families afford and pursue the American dream. Unfortunately, the White House chases a different dream — a nightmare that pits unemployed Americans against illegal aliens in a competition for scarce jobs.

Watch it, courtesy of Media Matters:

The math behind this plan is simple, Brooks argued. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, there were 8.3 million undocumented immigrants working in America in 2008, and there are currently about 14 million unemployed Americans. The problem is, the math doesn’t work the way Brooks assumes it does. In fact, economists and labor market experts have reached a consensus that immigrants create at least as many jobs as they occupy and are actually a net benefit to the economy, as the money they make and goods they buy leads to economic growth, a fact acknowledged by former President George W. Bush. According to the Economic Policy Institute, immigrant workers actually have a “small but positive” effect on the wages of native born workers.

Unemployed Alabamians, of which there are plenty, didn’t fill thousands of jobs left open when immigrants fled the state after it passed the nation’s most radical anti-immigration law. Instead, Alabama’s agricultural and construction industries have reported drastic labor shortages, leading to financial problems in agriculture and delays in disaster relief due to construction shortages. But the fact that his discriminatory and xenophobic jobs plan wouldn’t work doesn’t matter to Brooks, an anti-immigration radical who earlier this year said he would “do anything short of shooting” immigrants to keep them out of Alabama.

Last night, President Obama unveiled his new jobs agenda, which includes an extension of the payroll tax holiday for workers and employers, as well as a temporary payroll tax reduction as an incentive for businesses to hire more people. As the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and otherexperts have found, payroll tax cuts are far more stimulative than many of the other tax cut proposals currently on the table.

Despite jobs being their constituents’ number one concern, a few Republican lawmakers served up a smorgasbord of excuses for intentionally skipping President Obama’s jobs address last night — roundtables, football, and of all things, Twitter. Georgia Rep. Paul Broun (R)declared this week that he would not physically enter the House Chamber, but would instead live tweet it from his Capitol office, holding what he dubbed a “Twitter town hall.” But as Politico reports, “most of the hundreds” of Twitter followers who participated in his town hall berated him for skipping the speech. “Show some respect to the office,” one said. “Do this later.” When Broun tweeted during the speech that “this is obviously political grandstand,” followers blasted him for doing just that. “Yes, we know about your tweets…now what about the speech,” one person responded. Several participants “suggested to Broun a special jobs plan of their own: get out of Congress.” “If you resigned from office, that would create at least one opening,” said a follower. “I’m embarrassed by you.”

Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern (R) first becameinfamous on the national stage when she said that blacks “don’t work as hard” as white people. The Oklahoma House finally reprimanded her for those statements, but Kern has yet to answer for a number ofderogatory remarks she’s made about gay men and women.

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Simple man, who likes simple things. Who seems to meet some simple people and I don't mean the good simple either. Still, it's fun to meet people who can relate to things behind the wall of the internet. "Sometimes it's best not to see a face only to feel a heart."